His Happy Ending
by SylverEclipse
Summary: They say a hero's fate is never happy, and Percy can speak from experience. After being trapped in Tartarus forever, he begins slipping away from reality, something worse than death.


**Rated T for darker themes and suicidal thoughts. Also, there is use of the word "hell" and "damned". You guys can handle that, right? **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

* * *

Percy was trapped there. Again.

Maybe that's why his fatal flaw was fatal in the first place. Only, he didn't sacrifice the world.

No, he sacrificed himself.

But, hey, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. If he had waited a second longer, he would have been torn away from those Doors and someone else would have taken his place. Percy couldn't live with the guilt of knowing that someone had died for him. That was _his_ thing.

Percy cringed and desperately tried to cover his ears from a piercing wail that echoed down the corridors. He had forgotten about those.

Percy's shoes created squelching sounds against the ground as he was splashing through pools of blood and stomping on dead bodies. The stench was evidence of that. But that didn't bother him. Why should it?

For all he knew, it might have been the scattered corpses of the damned prisoners that he had killed.

* * *

_Percy and Annabeth were cornered. They had been trapped and were attacked by . . . people. Regular, normal-looking people. Or as normal as you could look when you were coated in crimson blood and gore._

_They were all men. They were definitely tortured down there, because every step they took seemed to be their last. They barely blink without groaning._

_But they weren't in Tartarus for nothing. Percy knew what they were going to do to him. Probably torture him, then kill him in the slowest possible way. That didn't matter. What really mattered was Annabeth's safety._

_He heard them muttering to themselves. He heard their plans. They wanted to do things to her that disgusted and horrified him, and he knew that they deserved the all the torment they had gotten here. Maybe it was just the rage that had caused him to do what he did._

_Percy was blinded by anger towards the savage men. Fear had become a foreign concept, mercy had ceased to exist. Looking back, it may have been foolish of him to stop shielding Annabeth from those barbarians, but even with an injured ankle, his girlfriend could gut you like a fish- with or without her knife._

_And then he killed them all. For good. He dismembered and decapitated them all without hesitation. He slaughtered them as if they were nothing more than a pesky swarm of flies, quickly and precisely._

_Yeah, he really couldn't blame Annabeth for that look she gave him afterwards._

* * *

He knew that there would be no miracles for him now. There wouldn't be a god down there to give him some advice. There would be no dreams which would show him some secret escape route. No beautiful woman would appear out of nowhere and give him some gifts or a message. He was truly alone. The only thing that kept monsters from eating him was Riptide.

Bitterness washed over him, and Percy now knew what sort of thoughts had been running through Luke's head when he had sided with Kronos. He thought of the other Seven, whom had probably become immortal and were partying it up on Olympus. His mom and Paul, who would probably succeed and do great things without him supporting them. Poseidon having more children and forgetting about him. His friends branding him as just another one of the heroes that had tried and failed to make a name for himself. Annabeth, _his_ Annabeth, falling in love with another man.

Percy knew that there was something wrong with him. He had known that ever since he was five-years-old, when Gabe Ugliano had decided to make a point of telling him that every single day. Percy had believed him. He still did.

But Percy fought. Percy fought for his right to be happy. He defended himself against those bullies that had told him he should have never been born. He spat on those teachers that had called him stupid in their own special ways.

But it wasn't fair. Percy sacrificed everything, everything, to save the world. He had both directly and indirectly saved the world about five or six times, perhaps more. He had closed the Doors of Death. But what did he get? _Darkness. Fear. Insanity._

* * *

_Percy and Annabeth were straggling towards a large set of double doors in the distance. Smoke invaded their lungs and hellfire burned their already damaged skin. The Keres were there, waiting for some sort of disaster to occur so they could feed on the life force of the casualties. They were waiting for Percy and Annabeth. But Percy swore that they wouldn't get what they wanted._

_As they approached the Doors, Percy suddenly froze. Annabeth, whom he had been supporting, stumbled. She stared at him in shock as Percy looked back and gazed into the murky darkness._

_"What are you doing?! Percy, we have to go! We have to close them!"_

_"I know, Annabeth," he murmured, "I just was wondering-"_

_"Percy," she said, her voice uncharacteristically gentle, "We'll figure out everything once this is all done. We . . . we need to do this."_

How can she be so sure that we'll get out of this alive? Wasn't it said that someone had to stay to close the Doors on the other side?

_Whatever was going to happen next, he doubted it was going to be fun._

_"Fine . . . let's just go and get this over with."_

* * *

And during that agonizing walk toward towards those Doors, Percy knew that it was going to be him. He wasn't going to let anyone else take his place. It was his destiny. He knew it. His fatal flaw, personal loyalty, practically ordered him to do it. But still, Percy couldn't help but wish it was different.

* * *

_"Nononononononononono. No, no, no! NO!" Annabeth was screeching the word over and over until it became meaningless. She was being supported by Hazel and Piper, who were looking at Percy with horror in their eyes. He didn't blame them. He probably resembled some sort of serial killer, with his torn clothes, bloodied body, and lurid eyes._

_Jason, Frank, and Leo were standing next to them, looking at Percy with solemn eyes. Percy met their eyes and managed a lopsided grin, and he took one more step back. He wasn't taking any chances. Annabeth suddenly broke away from Hazel and Piper's tight grips and sprinted towards him, ignoring the pain in her ankle, even though it was quite prominent in her expression. He marveled at how determined she was to save him even though she was aware that it was no use._

_She skidded to a stop when they at about a foot away from him. The Doors were extremely close, only about five feet apart. She glared at Percy._

_"How could you? You-you promised! You promised that we would stay together!"_

_Percy swallowed the lump in his throat. Tears leaked from Annabeth's eyes and she was gasping, and he despised the fact that he was the cause for this._

_Percy again remembered the period in his life when he would do anything for someone to cry for him. He would have walked to the ends of the Earth for someone to care for him that much._

_Now, he understood why some people didn't want to become close with anyone._

_"Annabeth . . ." he began to say, but she cut him off._

_"You're not getting away from me. Never again."_

_He wore a weak smile._

_"But we'll always be together. No matter what."_

_The Doors were only about five inches apart. A cold feeling gripped his heart and Percy's stomach clenched. He was going to be stuck here forever. The very thought almost made him try to pry the Doors wide and run._

_He could see them. His friends. There was just a sliver of space now._

_"PERCY!"_

_And he was trapped._

* * *

He hated this feeling. This hopelessness. He tried to leave. He tried everything.

They were right when they said suicide wasn't the answer to your problems.

He dragged himself into a cavern, planning to rest after aimlessly wandering through tunnels. Maybe a monster would kill him. He prayed for something to happen. Anything that would get him out of this hell.

He didn't care about his health or his safety anymore. He threw himself into dangerous situations. He was lonely. Bored.

He felt nothing. The danger, the adrenaline, was what kept him alive.

The nothingness consumed him. The need for something had been overwhelming, _but now he just didn't know_. All he really had now was himself and his own mind.

Percy was more than broken. He was shattered.

And as he trudged through that cave, he started to believe a theory that he had started to formulate not too long ago. That he was chosen for this. He had to feel this agony because no one else would. His fatal flaw commanded him to do so. It was a part of him. Percy never really liked to see someone in pain, especially when he could do something about it.

All of this was because of one little flaw.

Percy suddenly fell to his knees, his hands clawing at the rocky ground as if he was searching for something that could never be found. He closed his eyes. And he screamed.

Was this his reward for being a hero? While everyone else was laughing, smiling,_ feeling_, he was here crying and wishing and dying?

His mother had named him Perseus because the original Perseus was one of the only heroes that got his own happy ending.

This was Percy's happy ending.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed!**


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